70 HOW THE SABBATH SHOULD BE LEGISLATED FOR.

o' the week. Perhaps they couldna bear a different Sabbaththough it were as a Sabbath far superior spiritually to that o' theirs—but fit only for a people leevin under a clearer and a fuller licht. The mair Christian the people, the mair Christian the Sabbath; and though I'm no unacquainted wi' the controversy about the change thought by some Divines to hae been wrocht in the law regarding the Jewish Sabbathyet hae I nae mair douts than o' my ain existence, that the events recorded in the New Testament have made the Sabbath holier-if that micht be-even than in the days o' Moses,therefore let it be kept holy; and if, as I believe, it be kept so in Scotland-then the blessing of God will be upon her -and as she is good, so shall she wax great.

North. Alas! James-alas!

Shepherd. I ken Scotland's no what she ance was - but I believe that, instead o' continuin to get waur, she'll get better -for that cant about the decent observance o' this, and the decent observance o' that, and the rational view o' this subjeck, and the leeberal view o' that ither subjeck, will no much langer stand the test o' reason-for reason enlichtened to the hicht kens that the cause o' a' gude resides, as Cowper says, in that heavenly word-Religion; and that Faith re-established, what's ca'd philosophy-that's waur nor superstition—will die; and then men will feel that, to leeve as they ought to do, ither instruction and ither support are necessary than they can get frae a' the books that ever were or will be prented— and which seeking, they shall find in One.

Buller. All the highest minds in Europe now see and declare the immortal truth, that all education must be based and built on the Christian religion.

Shepherd. Ower lang were they blind, and ower lang hae they been dumb. For a' the humblest hae seen and declared it a' their lives lang — though their declaration was confined to a sma' sphere, includin chiefly twa homesteads · that in which they live and die, and that in which they are buried! North. The difficulty in London - in England — and in Scotland too is to do all that may be done for the Sabbath, without interfering with the comforts-may I say the amusements, of the lower orders-the working classes-the poor. Tickler. The million.

Buller. The great multitude of mankind.

THE RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE SCOTCH.

Shepherd. The majority o' the human race.

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North. Let legislators look to themselves, and not to their individual selves alone, but to their order, in legislating for the Sabbath.

Buller. Let them begin with the rich and end with the poor. Tickler. And the poor will then submit to the law, and, as the Shepherd admirably observed, love the law. Not else. North. I have no holy horror of hot Sabbath-baked muttonpies.

Shepherd. Nor me-though on Sabbath there's no a het denner, if you except potawtoes, in a' the Forest.

North. Nor would I too much trammel the Thames.

Shepherd. "The boatie rows-the boatie rows." And after sermon I can see nae sin in a sail. No that ever onybody saw me on the Sabbath in a boat on the loch. But St Mary's is a still sheet o' inland water, wi' but few inhabitants on its banks-and the Thames is a rinnin river, wi' ebb and flow o' tide, wi' magnificent briggs, and wharfs, and stairs, by which a michty city keeps up continual communication wi' the sea, and perhaps the Sabbath would be ower deathlike on that great water, were the law to hush the voice o' human life, and a nichtlike silence to settle doun there even on the Lord's day. But I canna tell. It's no for me to judge what's best, for I'm no the Bishop o' Lunnon, but only the Ettrick Shepherd.

North. The Sabbath-day has been so long kept holy in Scotland, that Sabbath-breaking here as you well said, James-is justly considered to be a shocking sin. Should it be thought right to strengthen by law such observance of the Sabbath as has become a national characteristic, here it may be comparatively easy to do so; for such law can affect only a small minority of offenders, with whom there is no sympathy among the good of any class or any creed - and reform will

be restoration.

Shepherd. Burns sang the Cottar's Saturday Night, and James Grahame the Sabbath-and poetry is indeed a heaventaucht art when it sanctifies religion.

North. The spirit of the age in Scotland is religious, and the people, in spite of all this noise, love its simple Church. Great cause have they for their love-for that simple Church has cared for them-and they owe all that is best in their character to its ministrations. Philosophy has not made our

72

CONTENTMENT AND RESIGNATION.

people what they are-neither moral nor natural philosophy though both are excellent; human science cannot control the will — but in the will lies all good and all evil — and to know how to gain dominion over them, search the Scriptures.

Shepherd. Alas for the people who will not! Then, indeed, may they be ca'd "the lower orders"-below the beasts that perish. Men ca' the wee sleek mole blind because he has nae een they can see, and leeves darklin in the moul; but he has een fitted for his condition as weel as the eagle's, and travels alang his earth-galleries aneath the soil as surely as the royal bird alang his air-paths on the sky. But we that ca' him blind are far blinder oursels; for we forget we hae speeritual as weel as corporeal een-that they see by a different licht, far ither objects—and that the ae set may be gleg and bricht, while the ither's blunt and opaque,-the corporeal far-keekers indeed, that wi' the aid o' telescopes can look into the heart o' the fixed stars the speeritual sae narrow-ranged, that a's black before them as a wa', though God-given to gaze into the very gates o' heaven.

North. My beloved Shepherd, after that I shall say nothing. Buller. Yes! I will see you in your own house in the Forest-my dear

Shepherd. I'll drive you out, Mr Buller, the morn1 in the gig. Gie's your haun on't. That's settled.

North. Thinking on human life in humble households, my heart sums up all the holiest sights I have so often seen there in two words carrying with them profoundest pathos-Contentment and Resignation.

Shepherd. Mr North, hearken till me, and I'll gie you, in as few words as I can, an illustration o' your true and wise remark. I ken a howe amang the hills where staun' three houses ·apairt frae ane anither about a quarter o' a mile-a rather unusual occurrence for three houses to be sae near in sic a situation—yet they are there noo, as they hae been for mair nor a hunder years and, though auld-like, are cosy,

and carena either for wund or snaw.

North. Why, James, you have already painted a picture. Shepherd. I didna mean to be descriptive-but I canna help it. In the house at the fell-fit, where the burn is a spring, the family consists o' fourteen sowls-pawrents and childer

The morn-to-morrow.

THE THREE HOMES.

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no that they are a' leevin at hame-for some o' baith lads and lassies are at service-but last time I was there I coonted seven growin anes, twa-three o' them bein' weans, and ane a babby. The couple hae been man and wife twunty year, and death has never ance knocked at their door; no ane o' them a' ever had a fivver. Then they hae a' turned out weelwithout vice or folly-what'n a blessin in sic a large family! -are a' weel-mainnered and weel-faured, indeed, far mair nor that-for the twa twuns are the maist beautifu' creturs ever seen, and like as lilies.

Tickler. I should like to go a-maying to the Howe.

Shepherd. You wad get gran' cruds and ream-and the lassies nae lack o' lauchin. The twa twuns wad get prime fun wi' Lang-legs-passin themsels aff on him for ane anither -and first the ane and then the ither declarin it wasna her that had gotten the ribbons.

Tickler. The fairies!

Shepherd. In the neist house-laigher doun beside the linnI remember there bein' born first ae bairn and then anitherlad and lassie time about-till there were nae fewer than ten. You couldna say, when you lookt at them as they were waxin, that they were ony way unhealthy-though rather slenderer and mair delicat than you micht hae wushed your ain bairns. But, waes me! sirs, no ae single ane o' a' the ten ever saw the sun o' their twentieth simmer-few reached saxteen-the rest dwined awa earlier-and noo they're a' dead!

North. And the parents?

Shepherd. Wait a wee and I'll tell you about the pawrents. In the house laighest o' the three-and that you can see peepin by itsel—as if the ither twa werena near't-leeve a pair noo wearin awa-wha married when I was a herd—and they had never ony bairns ava; sae that the freens in the twa ither houses sometimes used to fear the sicht o' their families micht waukin envy in the hearts o' them wha sleepit in a barren bed. Nor would it hae been unnatural if it had; but na-God, they kent, gied-and God withheld-and God took awa-and through a' their lang life childless, yet through a' their lang life hae they been cheerfu' as birds, and industrious as bees. In troth they hae been just a meeracle o' contentment—and though they liked best the cawm o' their ain house, yet they were merry as grigs among ither

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EFFECTS OF RELIGION.

folk's weans-wha aften ca'd her mammy as weel's their ain mither.

Shepherd. And you, sir. Noo, sir, I dinna fear to say-for I know it to be a truth and a great truth-that thae three couple are at this hour a' equally-but oh! how differently happy! Them that has never kent the blessin o' bairns— them that has enjoyed it in overflowing measure, and without ae drap o' what can be ca'd bitter in the cup-and them that saw a' their bairntime meltin awa till they had to kneel doun by their ain twa sels in prayer. Ae word-or twa wordsand the twa, though ane and the same, soun' sweet and awfu’ thegither-explain the mystery,-The Bible-Religion.

[There is silence for a time. NORTH rings the silver bell, and appear PETER and AMBROSE with the cold round, ham and fowls and tongues, and the unassuming but not unsubstantial et-ceteras of such a small snug Mid-summer supper as you may suppose suitable at a Noctes on the Leads of the Lodge. NORTH nods, and PETER lets on the gas. Shepherd. Fareweel to the moon and stars.

North. What will you eat, James ?

Shepherd. I'll tak some hen. Mr Buller, gie me the twa legs and the twa wings and the breist-and then haun the hen ower to Mr Tickler.

[They settle down into serious eating.

the lead-hard pressed by NORTH.

The SHEPHERD taking

Tickler. How are you getting on, James?

Shepherd. But slawly. Canna ye sook that back without your jaw-banes clunkin? Soopin on the leads o' the Lodge aneath a silk yawnin in a conservatory lichted up with gas!Buller, what are ye about?

Buller. Tucking in a trifle of brawn.

Shepherd. Mr North, I've seen naething frae your pen, for years by, comparable to "Christopher on Colonsay." I howp we're to hae anither Fytte.

North. I believe Fytte Second opens the Number.

Shepherd. That's richt—and had Gurney no been in the

1 See Blackwood's Magazine, for June and July 1834. 66 Colonsay" was a pony of remarkable strength and sagacity, presented to Professor Wilson by Mr M'Neill of Colonsay.